Nauvoo Restoration Inc. - New Office Parking Lot Continued

On July 24th the guys poured the first half of the driveway out to Young Street. It was the perfect day because it was overcast and drizzled a little later in the afternoon. It is looking so good down there. I will try to keep you updated.

I've heard of pooper scoopers but this is extreme.

As you know the girls work for NRI in the summer. They work on the grounds crew. I went over to check on them and they were shoveling manure and spreading it around the plant and bushes.

Amber might be sweet but you wouldn't know that by the way she smells today. Yucky!

"Tacy! you have a little something on your cheek there..." I always wondered how she keeps her skin so soft and supple. I'm not sure if I am willing to go to those extremes but hey! whatever works.

Memory Lane

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Let Me Introduce you to Tacy Nelson

This is a new kind of Tag. I will introduce you to an interesting person I know and you can go to her Blog and she will introduce you to someone that she knows and we can see how many people we get to meet.

This is Tacy.

When I moved to Nauvoo she was in High School. I was called to be the Young Women's President after living here about a year. I was really intimidated. Tacy and a couple of other Laurels (Amanda and Ashlie)came over to my house with treats and balloons and welcomed me. She is so thoughtful and sweet. She always made me feel like I was doing ok even when I knew I was barely stumbling along.

Then I got to work with her at the concession stand at pageant. She is a riot. Her and her entire family could entertain me for hours. I love just talking to her. She is smart, and funny...hilarious. The stuff she comes up with makes me giggle weeks later. Sometimes it takes me that long to "get it" (I can be a little slow sometimes) You know the type, I just think about some of the stuff she has said and I start laughing. I am laughing right now. lol

I can't wait for people to see her blog. The stuff she comes up with cracks me up.

She is going to school at BYU-Idaho so I miss her but she will be back here to visit next week and then the city of Nauvoo, Illinois will be back to normal (well except Katy is still missing, and Ashlie and...) Well lets just say it will be BETTER!!

So Tacy it is your turn...Introduce us to someone special!

http://thetacy.blogspot.com/

No Gas?

It was the wierdest thing. Marty went to work at 5am yesterday morning because they were pouring concrete and it gets so hot they try to do as much as they can before it gets too hot. After working all day he worked at the pageant concession stand all night.
Today he got up early packed, he is going to Youth Conference and he gets to drive, and drove to the Casey's gas station to fill up. BUT..the computers were down so the pumps won't work. So he drove to the other gas station in town, the Nauvoo Mini Mart and all the pumps were taped up. There was no way to get gas in town this morning. You know that advise you hear about always keeping your tank 1/2 full in case of emergencies.....Good advise. lol
OH and don't worry the pumps at Casey's are working fine now. They were just down for a little while. I'm not sure what was going on at the mini mart it's further from my house so I haven't checked.

WOW!

Don Ziegler took these of Lacey and Sage down at pageant.

He is a local photographer in town. His studio is called Reflections by Don.

I wish my snapshots looked this good.

Amber was at work at the Fudge Factory and I was at Annie's Custard so we missed

getting our pictures taken. : (

Nauvoo Pageant 2008.

The pageant this is as wonderful as it has ever been.

Our concession stand it still up and running and it keeps us hopping. My biggest problem is when I work there I eat too much. The food is real good and it's inexpensive too.
Shani Bollin is a local business owner in Nauvoo. She owns "Winning Looks" a hair salon in town. She represents the Methodist church and is one of our favorite order takers.

She has worked with us all 4 years and we love her.

Behind the scenes. Doris Schmid, Sage, Mom, Nancy Campbell and mom's friend Sylvia who came from Utah just to help mom manage the concession stand this year. Lots of our friends and family work each night. Sometimes we know everyone like Melissa (below). Sometimes it's all new volunteers we have never met but when they leave we have a new friend. The concession stand has been so much fun and such a great way to get to know each other.

This is one of the fun pre-show activities that they have. The kids love dancing and here they get to dance every night. It is so much fun. We love pageant.

Lacey and Sage go down every night to help set up and then they stick around and clean up. They help of it gets too busy and if some of our volunteers don't show up.

Nauvoo Restoration Inc. - New Office Parking Lot

The guys down at NRI are getting ready to do another pour. This time it's 104 yards to finish another section of the parking lot down by the new NRI offices they just finished this year.
The guys posing with Elder Carlson. Elder Carlson is the Manager over Nauvoo Restoration. Marty got to know him when he was a missionary serving here a few years back. Marty really enjoys working with him.

Getting ready to pour concrete.

Tag!

Here are the directions-
1. Pick up the nearest book, turn to page 123
2. Find the 5th paragraph
3. Find the 5th sentence in that paragraph
4. Post the 5th sentence
5. Tag 5 people

Here is mine: My page 123 doesn't have 5 paragraphs, so I'll post the 3rd Paragraph and 3rd sentence.

"Still, hard to believe, after all this time, the Sphinx has stopped pacing himself and is sprinting for the finish line."

From: "FABLEHAVEN: Grip of the Shadow Plague"

by Brandon Mull

I Tag:
Kim
Erin
Tera
Tracy
Mom

Our Country Cousin

This is a cousin of mine who we are very proud of and we want to help her out!

Stephanie Hillman is an aspiring LDS artist. She has been singing since she could talk. When she was 20 years old she was offered a recording contract to be a country singer but turned it down to go on a mission. Since she has been home she has written and performed LDS music. She is trying to get picked up by a label and in order to get their attention she needs as many people in her fan base as possible. So here is where she needs your help. Please help her by joining her fan club. When you join you will get a free song from Stephanie and monthly updates on what is going on with her music and events. All you have to do is send a message to stephaniehillman@gmail.com saying you would like to join the fan club. Also if you are interested in booking a fireside with her just send a message to the same e-mail address. Thanks so much everyone for your help!

Nauvoo Pageant 2008 is here.

I forgot my camera so I had to use my phone for pictures.

We opened the concession stand Thursday night for dress rehearsal and we were surprised how many people came. Usually we only sell drinks and stuff that we don't have to cook. It was really fun. We have people working with us from all different organizations in the community, Community of Christ Church, the Local Library, the Methodist Church, The PTO, Music Boosters, Relay for Life, Keokuk Branch, Ft Madison Branch, Burlington Ward, Quincy Ward, Macomb, and Kirksville wards. We are all friends and it is so fun to hang out together.

We look forward to it every year. It's a lot of fun and it really helps the community.

I went down there and helped this weekend but Mom is going to take over for me this year. I am going to be helping my friend Helen at her custard store in town. The first Friday night is usually the busiest of the whole Pageant but it was the slowest we have ever seen. I really think the gas prices and the flooding have scared people away. It's ok though, there are still lots of people and the spirit is stronger when people aren't grumpy because of too large of crowds. It's a great atmosphere and the weather has been amazing. It was actually chilly on Saturday night. We went home shivering.

I had a cool experience last night, a lady saw me and flagged me over to the line where she was getting her food. She was grinning from ear to ear so I was sure I knew her. She said I didn't know her but she follows my blog...cool huh. It was really fun talking to her and it really felt like we were old friends. I get a lot of emails from people asking questions about Nauvoo and I love helping them when I can. This blogging stuff is a blast and I love helping people who want to come visit.

Our Family Gets to Talk in Church Next Sunday

Ok I know that this happens to LDS families on occasion but this is Nauvoo during the Nauvoo Pageant. Today in church we had to open the doors at the back of the chapel and the chairs went to the stage. They were almost full. This is going to be like speaking at stake conference. Lacey, who is 13, leaned over to me during sacrament meeting and asked if it was going to be like this next week. Amber said "Oh Lacey it's going to be WAY WORSE". Needless to say Lacey looked sick. She has dyslexia and reading is hard but memorizing is also hard for her. I just reminded her that she had already started working on her talk and she was being prayerful so everything would be ok. What I will not tell her is that I am feeling just as sick. I love talking to people one on one or in small groups but....oh well. I'll be prayerful to, PRAYER WORKS!!! :)

Amber is on the Front Page of the Local Newspaper

There was a picture of Amber and her friends on the front page of the local newspaper "The New Independent" this week. It was taken when they were singing in town on the fourth of July.
On top it shows Nauvoo's Brass band who also performed .

Then it shows Amber Steen, Angelique and Chantal Hallman, and Bryce Capener singing. These girls are really amazing. One of these days I will get them to sing and I will post it for everyone to hear.

POOL PARTY!

Today at daycare we went SWIMMING!!!



and we had FUN!!!

I love Nauvoo! Pageant is almost here!

Ok so it's 9am and I am cleaning my house to the sound of BAGPIPES!! How cool is that. I guess a bagpiper from the pageant is staying at the hotel annex across the street!!! YEA!!

Only in Nauvoo.

My girls love it when pageant comes because they get to meet new people and anyone who lives in a small town knows how desperate kids get for NEW friends. Last year the girls got to be good friends with quite a few of the cast members. One of their friends was Drew. He was a bagpiper last year and is here again this year. He was featured in last months New Era magazine.

I am so excited for pageant. The weather is getting warmer and more humid but hey! it's summer. I am just grateful it's been so nice these past few weeks.

I LOVE Cutest Blog on the Block

OK. I love this site because they make really cute backgrounds for blogs and it's free. They also have cute blinkees and they don't charge to download them. On their site they teach you how to do things to make your blog CUTE and more personal!
They are having issues with so many hits now they need some donations to get on a new server that can accommodate all of us. I will admit I hate paying for anything but their services are so awesome I am willing to help out and I hope their are others of you who are willing to do the same.
http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/

Thanks! I am panicking, I change my blog all the time and I am beginning to think I might get stuck in Americana mode forever. PLEASE HELP!!! : )

4th of July at the Steen's

I mowed the lawn and weeded. Marty finished the front deck and put the siding back on.
Marty built a new deck for the back door.
I weeded some more, mowed the lawn some more and then pruned some trees and fertilized my plants.

Then we went swimming to cool off. It wasn't very hot but we worked hard so we really enjoyed it.
Then we barbecued Hamburgers and made potato salad. Mom couldn't come she ended up helping out at the High School. They are sewing for the Pageant. So Dad ate with us. The girls didn't come either, I guess Amber sang at a grand opening of a hotel in town. I didn't even know, the girls told us about it 5 mins before so we missed it.

Then I went with the girls to see "Hancock" it would have been a good movie but they swore a lot. The kind of swearing you can hear on TV all the time now but a lot more of it and it never seems to stop. Very dissapointing.
We got home at about 11:30pm. I went to bed, marty was already there and the girls stayed up to do sparklers and stuff. There were no fireworks in town this year. :( but our new neighbor let off some huge ones about 12-1 am. The illegal kind, it was SO LOUD. I guess the mayor, who lives a few houses down, yelled at them. I was to tired to crawl out of bed and find out what was going on. I had to get a report from the girls in the morning. Hey! I'm not old. I worked really really hard!! I thought it was a great day!

INDEPENDANCE DAY in Nauvoo

On the morning of the 4th we went down to the new "Sunset" stage and had a nice program and breakfast. There were a number of missionaries leaving to go home so they had an opportunity to bid farewell to all of their friends.
Their little skits and the things they said showed how much they enjoyed their missions here.

Some of them couldn't wait to get out of their pioneer costumes and head home. This couple did an onstage strip tease. lol
It was a great way to start the day.